92 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



Cultivation. — The close resemblance and near botanical relation- 

 ship of the Epacrids to the Ericas afford the key to their successful 

 treatment. They are so far hardy that a close damp stove would soon 

 be the death of all the species committed to it, and so far tender that 

 exposure to burning sun or frost would be equally fatal. Moderate and 

 gentle forcing they bear with patience, but they require at all times 

 plenty of light and air, and must be guarded against stagnant moisture, 

 and all sudden changes of temperature. In a greenhouse badly 

 managed, the epacrises will be among the first plants to perish, but 

 with thoughtful and constant attention they make a good return, and 

 are exquisitely beautiful in their flowering season, and at other times 

 neat and interesting shrubs. All the species and their varieties thrive 

 in good peat alone, and require no other soil, with the exception of E. 

 micropkylla, JE. exserta, and E. andromedaflora, which do better in a 

 compost consisting of one-third mellow hazelly loam, and the remainder 

 sandy peat. As they all flower early in the year, and continue in 

 bloom from January to July, it is necessary to give them every needful 

 attention during the winter, as the flowering wood is then in process of 

 advancement from a state of comparative rest to the development of 

 blossoms, and any undue degree of cold or damp will render the flower 

 buds abortive. The winter temperature should never exceed 50", nor 

 be lower than 40°, in order to keep the plants as nearly dormant as 

 possible without injuring the flowering wood. As the season of flower- 

 ing approaches, there will be no need of the aid of artificial heat to the 

 extent of forcing, but a temperature of 60° to 70° is allowable, then 

 plenty of air can be given, and the plants must then have plenty of 

 water, and be scarcely at all shaded. As soon as flowering is over, cut 

 back the plants moderately, and keep them rather close till new growth 

 begins, which will follow close upon the pruning. They may now be 

 treated in precisely the same way as camellias and azaleas when making 

 their new wood, and as soon as the new shoots are an inch long, turn 

 them out of their pots, remove a portion of the old soil without injuring 

 the principal roots, and repot in the same pots or one size larger. 

 After this operation shut them up for about ten days, and then give 

 them plenty of air, and in about fifteen or twenty days after repotting 

 place them out of doors in turf pits to finish their growth and ripen the 

 wood for next season's bloom. If turned out without repotting, they 

 frequently die or become unhealthy and unsightly, and if not properly 

 prepared for turning out as we here advise, some similar disaster may 

 occur, for the delicate roots of these plants are quite unfitted to bear 

 any extremes, and it is for that reason we recommend turf pits, which 

 are more uniformly moist and equable in temperature than any other 

 kind of receptacle for plants in summer time out of doors. In any 

 case the pots must be plunged to the rim ; earth'or ashes may suffice 

 for plunging, but there is nothing to equal cocoa-nut fibre refuse 

 for this purpose, as we have proved by experience, it is such a perfect 

 non-conductor, that a mass of it is not soon affected by alternations of 

 temperature, and it is always uniformly moist without being over wet, 

 unless the bed is made up on a surface of undraiued clay which, of course, 

 is not to be taken into the reckoning when we are addressing sensible 

 gardeners. Never let them get dust dry, never make them excessively 



